Liberal Tolerance

Some weeks ago I was invited to give a talk at the Aeropagus, a devout Christian organization.  The organizer, Dr. Jefrey Breshears, and the discussant, Dr. Richard Howe, could not have been more gracious.  Intelligent, open-minded, and decent, they treated me with unfailing respect.

The same could be said of the audience.  All present knew that I am an agnostic and hence disagreed with my convictions, yet no one was discourteous.  Indeed, people were warm and supportive even when attempting to explain why I was wrong.

I bring this up because it contrasts so markedly with the reception I received at a Regional Sociological Association's recent annual meeting.  This liberal organization could scarcely have less gracious or more intolerant.

Many readers have inquired about how I, a conservative, can survive in so liberal a discipline as sociology.  Part of the reason is that my colleagues at Kennesaw State University are fair and congenial, even when our perspectives diverge.

With unfamiliar sociologists, however, it is often a different matter.  Once they learn where I stand, I get treated like the skunk at the garden party.  I am either told to shut up or coldly ignored.  This is what occurred at the afore mentioned conference.

A hint at what I was to experience could have been gleaned from the title of the event.  Called “The Stalled Revolution: Gender Inequality in the 21^st Century,” the goal was to promote “social justice”—especially for women.

The opening plenary speaker set the tone by explaining how cutting edge couples were creating the intimate relationships of the future.  While her research demonstrated how unhappy these people often were, and how frequently they divorced or remained single, they were presented as positive models of what is to come.

Many years ago, I began my career as a philosophy major.  At the time, one of my goals was to learn about life.  Nonetheless, I left the discipline when I ascertained that there was no objective way to settle differences of opinion.  I balked when persuasiveness and power reigned as the arbiters of acceptability.

Sociology was supposed to be different.  As a social science, its disputes would presumably be decided by appealing to empirical data.  Not moral commitments, but first-hand observations would determine the facts.

Not any more.  Too many sociologists have become inflexible moralists.  They are not trying to learn about the world, but to promote their causes.  Because they are convinced they know the truth, they are confident there is nothing to learn from dissenters.

Just how left wing sociology has become was evident at the conference’s book display.  Virtually all the featured works highlighted what is wrong with contemporary America.  To judge from their content, we are residing what amounts to one huge concentration camp.

Why is this so?  Why are sociological liberals so intolerant?  Once, a mere few hundred years ago, Christians were as fanatical.  Back then dissenters were not only disparaged, they were killed.  So what changed?

After many bruising wars, during which no side definitively prevailed, the participants realized that tolerance made more sense.   Their doctrinal differences remained, yet people discovered they could accept these without insisting on rote compliance.

Liberals, including most sociologists, have yet to learn this lesson.  They are so dedicated to their ideology that they cannot stomach opposition, especially from those presumed to be on their side.  This makes outliers, like me, particularly objectionable.

Something similar prevails in the political arena.  Liberals are so firm in their moral convictions that community members who differ are considered either stupid or evil.  Why then would a virtuous person put up with such villains?

Liberals still believe they can win the culture wars.  Even when the facts go against them, they are not discouraged.  One day, equality and androgyny will surely prevail.  All that is needed is for the good guys to stick together and beat the bad ones (e.g., me) into submission.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University